University of Missouri
21-8, 8-8SEC
Vanderbilt
16-13, 5-11SEC
#24 @MizzouWBB Falls to Vanderbilt in Regular Season Finale, 56-52
2/28/2016 5:24:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Sophie Cunningham & Cierra Porter lead Tigers with 11 points each
COLUMBIA, Mo. – In the final game of the regular season, Mizzou Women's Basketball (21-8, 8-8) fell to the Vanderbilt (16-13, 5-11) 56-52 on Sunday afternoon. Sophie Cunningham (Columbia, Mo.) and Cierra Porter (Columbia, Mo.) led the Tigers with 11 points each.
Porter opened the first quarter with two field goals, contributing to the Tigers 12-2 run through the first four minutes of the game. Following a timeout called by Vanderbilt, the Commodores would close the gap but a last-second shot by Lianna Doty (St. Louis, Mo.) gave Mizzou a 20-19 lead at the end of the first.
It was a back-and-forth contest through the second quarter with five lead changes. Lindsey Cunningham (Columbia, Mo.) drained two 3-point baskets, but Vandy held a 33-28 edge at halftime.
The game remained close through the third quarter as both teams put up 11 points with the Commodores remaining on top moving into the final period.
Senior guard Morgan Stock (Town & Country, Mo.) drained a 3-pointer to open the fourth quarter pulling the Tigers to within three. Mizzou would overtake the Commodores midway through the quarter but the lead would ultimately evaporate.
Mizzou shot 43 percent (19-for-44) from the field, 27 percent (6-for-22) from beyond the arc and 80 percent (8-for-10) from the free throw line. Vanderbilt shot 46 (21-for-45) percent from the floor, 47 (9-for-19) percent from 3-point range and 71 percent (5-for-7) from the foul line. The Tigers outrebounded the Commodores 29-23 and dished out 13 assists as a team.
Christa Reed led the Commodores with 20 points, shooting 4-for-8 from beyond the arc and tallying two rebounds and one assist.
Before the game, Mizzou honored seniors, Morgan Stock (Town & Country, Mo.), Maddie Stock (Town & Country, Mo.), Juanita Robinson (Chicago, Ill.) and Michelle Hudyn (Kitchener, Ontario, Canada) in their final game at Mizzou Arena. A commemorative ball was given to Jordan Frericks (Quincy, Ill.) celebrating her entry into the 1,000-point Club at Mizzou.
The Tigers begin postseason play on Thursday at the SEC Tournament in Jacksonville, Florida. No. 8 seed Mizzou plays No. 9 seed Auburn at 11 a.m. CT on Thursday at Veterans Memorial Arena.
For all the latest on Mizzou Women's Basketball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on Twitter (@MizzouWBB) and like the team on Facebook (Mizzou Women's Basketball) and Instagram (MizzouWBB).
POSTGAME NOTES
- Mizzou fell to 2-3 all-time against Vanderbilt and 1-1 in games played at Mizzou Arena.
- The Tigers finished the regular season 13-3 at home. The 13 wins tied for third-most in program history. The Tigers won 14 home games in 1982-83 and 2014-15, and have won 13 home games in a season five times (1995-96, 2000-01, 2005-06, 2012-13, and 2015-16).
- Mizzou is 3-7 when scoring under 60 points.
- The Tigers are 3-8 when trailing at halftime.
- Mizzou is 20-4 when outrebounding the opponent.
- The Tigers are 3-8 when shooting a lower field goal percentage than the opposition.
- Freshman forward Cierra Porter scored 11 points in the game, her highest point total since scoring 11 points against Alabama on Feb. 11. Porter has reached double digits scoring figures in 14 of 29 games this season.
- Freshman guard Sophie Cunningham notched 11 points in the contest to bring her season total to 400 points, second-most in program history behind Julie Helm, who had 515 points in 1996-97.
- Cunningham had nine rebounds in the game, tied for the fifth-most on the season. Over her last three games, Cunningham has 29 rebounds.
- Cunningham also had six assists, the third-highest assist total she has produced this season.
- The Tigers connected on 80 percent of their free throws, going 8-of-10 in the contest. Mizzou has made 80 percent or more of their free throws in 11 games this season.
- Mizzou finishes the season with 13 home wins,
- The Tigers finish conference play with eight wins, tied for 10th most in program history and the most since winning 10 conference games in the 2005-06 season.
- For the 12th straight game, more than 3,000 fans were in attendance at Mizzou Arena. For senior day, 5,998 fans were in attendance for today's game, the eighth-most to attend a home game in program history.
POSTGAME QUOTES
Head Coach Robin Pingeton
Opening statement…
"I appreciate everyone being here. First thing, just want to acknowledge the great fan base this season. It's been incredible the way they come out and support our team. I just appreciate everybody's support. I want to talk about our seniors a little bit. Certainly not the way we wanted to send them out. This one cuts a little bit deeper, it being senior night. I've got a great team. We've had a great season. This one hurts a little bit, like I said. Last home game in front of a great crowd for our seniors. We had some shots that didn't fall for us. Had some miscues, tried to force a few things. We missed some key defensive rebounds but the thing you can't question is this team's heart. You know they've had a great season. They're gritty, they're tough, they play hard. They're united and it's been one heck of a run for us, but this is the closing of regular season play and we're going to close the book on it and open a new chapter to conference tournament. We'll see what falls in front of us over the next fifteen, twenty minutes."
On a tough loss…
"I talked to Brad [Tregnago] about it before the game started, and Andy Landers a little bit too, and said those are scary teams to play. We talked to our team about it. I mean, they've been in every game in their last nine games. I mean, it's been a ball game. Typically, they get down early and they make a run and make a game out of it. Trust me, I knew we were going to have to put forty minutes together. They've got some nice players, perimeter kids. They can stretch you out, shoot the three, they can get to the rim. I just think she is a load inside and so strong, so explosive. I feel like after that first seven, eight, nine minutes we exhaled and you can't do that in the SEC. You do not get an opportunity to exhale in the SEC, home or away. We just kind of let down our guard and they kind of came back and threw that next punch and regrouped a little bit coming out of the locker room, but we had shots, they didn't fall for us. Shots that really could have separated a little more. But when that doesn't happen for you, you've got to be able to get things done on the defensive end. I know we outrebounded them tonight, they only had nine offensive boards, but a couple of those were at key times, like the game. I just go back to that second quarter. I just felt like we really got careless with the ball and just had some poor decision making. That came back to bite us a little bit."
On how Vanderbilt was able to get on a run…
"You know, typically we do a really good job on personnel. We adjusted how we were going to guard a couple of them coming off ball screens and coming off down screens. We wanted to chase them instead of going quickest route. We never really got that done. I think our kids were thinking in the gaps, cat and mouse, and trying to clog it up a little. We made that adjustment but they've got good perimeter players. Like I said, they stretched out. We just maybe weren't as assignment-correct as we have been in the past. That came back to hurt us as well."
On whether Vanderbilt changed anything defensively after the first quarter…
"I think our ball movement was really good and we got good open looks. Then we missed a couple layups inside. I thought once we started to rotate some players in, we didn't seem to have that same rhythm and I felt like we were trying to make things happen a little more with dribble drive instead of just swinging the ball. Great movement without, necessarily, penetration. We just seemed to get out of sync a little bit in that second quarter. And how many turnovers did we have in the second quarter? I mean, we had a lot of those where we were trying to force the action versus, out of the gates I thought we trusted the ball movement and were getting really good looks. I thought we tried to force some things in our transition in the second quarter, too."
On a possible rematch in the SEC tournament…
"It's tourney time. Records go out the window. It doesn't matter what you did yesterday, it doesn't matter what you did last month. Everyone is trying to fight to survive and advance. There's a handful of us right there in the mix that I don't think you ever want to assume you're in the tournament and the big dance, so I think a win down in Jacksonville would be big for a number of us. It's definitely going to be a battle."
Redshirt junior guard Lindsey Cunningham
On the first quarter compared to the second quarter…
"I think we came out and we were knocking down shots and moving the ball really well. Then, when that didn't necessarily carry over in the second quarter, we didn't keep up that same ball movement, that same energy that we had when we were knocking down shots. Coach talked about a lot not letting our offense dictate our defense. I think we probably let that happen today."
On a fresh start in the SEC Tournament…
"It cuts hard losing that game. It hits deep, especially that senior class. We wanted to get that win for them. There is no doubt in our mind that we can still make a run. We're not going to hang our heads and the last thing we're going to do is feel sorry for ourselves. This team is not done yet this season. We're going to go back to work and we're going to make a run. It is going to be tough. Nothing about it is going to be easy. Nothing about this season has been easy, but were definitely not going to lay down and die now."
On struggling to stop Minta Spears' drives…
"All of them can knock down shots. Our scouting report said that they can knock down threes, and we've got to contain the drive, too. She was doing both, and that is definitely on me."
Freshman guard Sophie Cunningham
On her go-ahead 3-pointer with five minutes left in the quarter…
"I think that it kind of got us going again, but we have yet to play a game 40 minutes altogether and hopefully this tournament we can do that. But, we're going to have to roll up our sleeves and get to work."
On Vanderbilt affecting her distribution of the ball…
"They were guarding me pretty tough but I was just looking for my teammates that were open. The more ball movement we had, the better shots we got. I was just looking for that."
